Sòngdài Gōngwéi Shǐ 宋代宮闈史
History of the Song Dynasty Inner Palace by 許慕羲 (撰)
About the work
Sòngdài Gōngwéi Shǐ 宋代宮闈史 is a Republican-era historical novel in at least 201 chapters (huí 回) by 許慕羲 (Xǔ Mùxī), covering the founding and early Sòng dynasty from the career of Zhào Kuāngyìn 趙匡胤 (the future Sòng Tài Zǔ, r. 960–976) to the consolidation of the dynasty. The Kanripo text preserves the first part (dì yī bù 第一部). The narrative follows the young Zhào Kuāngyìn’s coming of age, his cultivation of martial skills and friendship with two sworn brothers (sān xióng jiéyì 三雄結義), his early service as a military officer under the Later Zhōu dynasty, his participation in the conquest of the Bĕi Hàn 北漢 and Nán Táng 南唐, and his eventual accession as the Sòng founder through the famous “Yellow Robe Incident” (huánpáo jiāshēn 黃袍加身) of 960. The famous episode of “Releasing the generals over cups of wine” (bēijiǔ shì bīngquán 杯酒釋兵權) — in which Tài Zǔ dissolved the military power of his top generals through a banquet diplomacy maneuver — appears in ch. 9.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
許慕羲 (Xǔ Mùxī) was a prolific Republican-era popular fiction writer. In addition to Sòngdài Gōngwéi Shǐ, his works in the Kanripo corpus include KR4k0329 Yuándài Gōngtíng Yànshǐ 元代宮廷豔史 (Scandalous history of the Yuán imperial court). Both works follow the characteristic gōngwéi shǐ / gōngtíng yànshǐ formula: a dynastic founding narrative in which martial adventure and political intrigue are interspersed with romantic episodes centering on imperial women.
The Sòng founding narrative was a staple of Chinese popular fiction from at least the late Míng, with the Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn 水滸傳 tradition providing a template for heroic fraternal brotherhood narratives set in the Sòng period. The specific episodes chosen for dramatization — the “Yellow Robe Incident,” the “Release of the Generals,” and the conquest of the Southern dynasties — were canonical features of Sòng historical narrative in both scholarly and popular form.
Translations and research
- Mote, Frederick W. 1999. Imperial China 900–1800. Harvard University Press. (Standard account of the Sòng founding.)
- Lorge, Peter. 2005. War, Politics and Society in Early Modern China. Routledge. (On Tài Zǔ’s military consolidation.)